Image Portion Identification Methods, Image Parsing Methods, Image Parsing Systems, and Articles of Manufacture

1. An image portion identification method, comprising: accessing data regarding an image depicting a plurality of biological substrates corresponding to at least one biological sample and indicating presence of at least one biological indicator within the biological sample, wherein each biological substrate of the plurality includes a plurality of biological receptors; and using processing circuitry, automatically identifying a portion of the image depicting one biological substrate of the plurality but not biological substrates of the plurality other than the one biological substrate, wherein the identifying the portion comprises: determining at least one of a plurality of possible vertical arrangements and horizontal arrangements of the plurality of biological substrates of the image; and selecting one of a plurality of different search schemes usable to identify the portion responsive to the determining.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying comprises identifying the portion of the image depicting only the one biological substrate of the plurality of biological substrates.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automatically identifying comprises identifying a boundary of the portion of the image without user input.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of biological substrates comprise markings corresponding to the at least one biological sample, the markings denoting the presence of the at least one biological indicator within the at least one biological sample.

5. An image portion identification method, comprising: accessing data regarding an image depicting a plurality of biological substrates corresponding to at least one biological sample and indicating presence of at least one biological indicator within the biological sample, wherein each biological substrate of the plurality includes a plurality of biological receptors; and using processing circuitry, automatically identifying a portion of the image depicting one biological substrate of the plurality but not biological substrates of the plurality other than the one biological substrate, wherein the identifying the portion comprises: determining either that the plurality of biological substrates are arranged horizontally or that the plurality of biological substrates are arranged vertically; if the plurality of biological substrates are arranged horizontally, identifying a first row of pixels of the image and a second row of pixels of the image, the one biological substrate being the only biological substrate of the plurality that is located between the rows; and if the plurality of biological substrates are arranged vertically, identifying a first column of pixels of the image and a second column of pixels of the image, the one biological substrate being the only biological substrate of the plurality located between the columns.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining comprises: for individual rows of pixels of the image, calculating a row brightness value for each of the individual rows of pixels; calculating a row cumulative distribution function of the row brightness values of the individual rows of pixels; for individual columns of pixels of the image, calculating a column brightness value for each of the individual columns of pixels; calculating a column cumulative distribution function of the column brightness values of the individual columns; and comparing characteristics of the row and column cumulative distribution functions.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining comprises using statistical characteristics of the row brightness values to determine whether the plurality of biological substrates are arranged horizontally or vertically.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the identifying the first row of pixels and the second row of pixels comprises: for individual rows of pixels of the image, calculating a brightness value for the individual row; calculating a cutoff value using statistical characteristics of the row brightness values of the individual rows; identifying the first row of the image, the brightness value associated with the first row being less than the cutoff value; identifying the second row of the image, the brightness value associated with the second row being less than the cutoff value; and identifying a third row of the image intersecting the one substrate, the third row being positioned within the image below the first row and above the second row, the brightness value associated with the third row being greater than the cutoff value and being a local maximum with respect to others of the row brightness values.

9. An image parsing method, comprising: arranging a plurality of biological substrates wherein each biological substrate of the plurality includes a plurality of biological receptors; creating an image depicting the arranged plurality of biological substrates after the arranging; and automatically parsing the image into a sub-image depicting a number of biological substrates of the plurality that is less than a total number of the arranged plurality of biological substrates by determining one of a plurality of possible different horizontal arrangements and vertical arrangements of the plurality of biological substrates and selecting one of a plurality of different search schemes usable to identify the sub-image responsive to the determining.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the automatically parsing comprises parsing the image into the sub-image depicting only one biological substrates of the arranged plurality of biological substrates.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the automatically parsing comprises automatically parsing without user input.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the arranging comprises arranging the plurality of biological substrates in a specific arrangement and the creating the image comprises creating the image while the plurality of biological substrates are arranged in the specific arrangement.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the arranging comprises arranging the plurality of biological substrates on a surface having a uniform color contrasting with a background color of the plurality of biological substrates.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of biological substrates comprise markings corresponding to at least one biological sample, the markings denoting the presence of biological indicators within the at least one biological sample.

15. An article of manufacture, comprising: non-transitory media comprising programming configured to cause processing circuitry to perform processing comprising: accessing data regarding an image depicting a plurality of biological substrates corresponding to at least one biological sample and indicating presence of at least one biological indicator within the at least one biological sample, wherein each biological substrate of the plurality includes a plurality of biological receptors; and automatically identifying a portion of the image depicting a number of the plurality of biological substrates that is less than a total number of the plurality of biological substrates depicted in the image by determining one of a plurality of possible horizontal arrangements and vertical arrangements of the substrates in the image and selecting one of a plurality of different search schemes usable to identify the portion of the image responsive to the determining.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the processing further comprises creating a new image comprising only the identified portion of the image.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of biological substrates comprise markings corresponding to biological samples, the markings denoting the presence of biological indicators within the biological samples.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of biological substrates comprise antigens and the biological indicators comprise at least one antibody.

19. An image parsing system, comprising: circuitry configured to: access data regarding an image depicting a plurality of biological substrates corresponding to at least one biological sample and indicating presence of at least one biological indicator within the at least one biological sample, wherein each biological substrate of the plurality includes a plurality of biological receptors; and automatically identify a portion of the image depicting less than all the biological substrates of the plurality of biological receptors depicted within the image by determining one of a plurality of possible horizontal arrangements and vertical arrangements of the plurality of biological substrates in the image and selecting one of a plurality of different search schemes usable to identify the portion responsive to the determining.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the circuitry is configured to create a new image comprising the identified portion, the new image depicting one biological substrate of the plurality but not others of the plurality of biological substrates.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of biological substrates comprise markings corresponding to biological samples, the markings denoting the presence of biological indicators within the biological samples.